05Jan15

The rise and ugly fall of a moderate Syrian rebel offers lessons for the West

In Syria's chaotic and increasingly radicalized revolution, one man stood out
for having resolutely moderate views, a large following and, it was widely
whispered, the support of the United States and its allies.

Jamal Maarouf, a former day laborer who until recently was one of northern
Syria's most powerful commanders, had been held up by the Syrian opposition
as a model rebel leader who shunned extremism and was among the first to
take up arms against the Islamic State.

He had also, however, established a reputation as a warlord, whose fighters
exacted tribute at checkpoints and spent more time engaged in the lucrative
smuggling businesses he operated than waging war.

When the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra group forced him to flee his
headquarters in the picturesque Jabal Zawiya mountains of northern Idlib
province in November, Maarouf found himself with few friends. About half of
his men remained behind, preferring to accommodate the invaders than fight
for their leader. Moderate allied groups declined to respond to his pleas for
help. So did the U.S.-led coalition, which failed to answer e-mails sent by the
Syrian opposition requesting airstrikes against his attackers.

Syrians elsewhere expressed little sympathy for a man who, in the eyes of
many, had come to represent not the best but the worst of what the revolt
against President Bashar al-Assad had become.

"We didn't rise up against Bashar to replace him with someone like Jamal
Maarouf," said a commander with Ansar al-Sham, who spoke on the condition
of anonymity because his small rebel group has tried to steer a path of
neutrality.

The story of Maarouf's rise and fall illuminates some of the reasons why
moderate rebels have fared so badly in the competition for influence with
Islamists in Syria's complicated war. It also underscores the challenges
confronting the United States as it casts around for allies on the ground in the
fight against the Islamic State, the main focus of America's latest Middle East
intervention.

Although his ouster won't spell the end of the moderate rebellion in Syria, it
does represent a significant setback to the groups' increasingly desperate
struggle to survive.

Maarouf denies wrongdoing and blames his notoriety on "propaganda"
disseminated by his enemies. In a recent interview, he vowed to return to
Syria and continue the fight.

"I haven't lost everything," he said, as he sat surrounded by over a dozen of
his men in a sparsely furnished apartment in Reyhanli, a drab Turkish town
bordering Syria that has become a logistical hub and a refuge for rebels of all
stripes.

"This is war. It ebbs and flows," he said. "The Syrian revolution is not about
one village."

Maarouf said he had only temporarily relocated to Turkey in order to attend
meetings. "If you think that my being in Turkey means it is because I have
fled, you are wrong," he said. "We can go back to Syria whenever we want."

Whether he can make a comeback or not will depend to a large degree on the
foreign donors who have funneled money and weapons to Syria's rebels over
the past two years, often erratically and in competition with one another.

Although Maarouf is often identified as a U.S. ally, in fact he received scant
American support, said Maarouf, U.S. officials and members of the Syrian
opposition. He was given U.S. aid in the form of food, medicine, blankets and
mattresses, they say.

But when the United States began covertly arming select rebel groups in
northern Syria a year ago, his immediate group of fighters was not chosen to
receive the weapons -- though some of the other factions who pledged
allegiance to his front did.

The United States was queasy about supporting him in part because of his
reputation, said Robert Ford, who was serving as the U.S. ambassador to
Syria at the time and is now with the Middle East Institute in Washington. He
said he spoke to Maarouf on the phone but did not meet him.

"We had the impression that he was a nationalist, not an ideologue. We also
understood that he wasn't entirely clean," Ford said. "He had a reputation as
someone who was doing some deals on the side."

Financial support

Maarouf's main sponsor was Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, which saw in him an
opportunity to push back against the rising influence of Islamist groups --
many of which were receiving funding from Qatar, Riyadh's chief rival for
influence in the Middle East.

Saudi money began flowing to Maarouf relatively early in the revolt, in the
spring of 2012, he said in a separate interview last year. His Syrian Martyrs'
Brigade quickly mushroomed to 7,000 men, expanding his influence
throughout northwestern Syria.

He later launched the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, a nationwide umbrella
movement that he claimedcomprised 17 factions and totaled more than
20,000 fighters. The new front marketed itself as the leading force of
moderation in Syria, worthy of U.S. support to counter the even more
formidable expansion of Islamist groups.

But aid to the moderates never matched that given to the Islamists, leaving
some rebels with little choice but to resort to other means to secure funds,
Ford said.

Moderate rebels "are living literally hand to mouth," he said. "The West never
provided much help, the Saudis never provided much."

"In the absence of reliable support, of course you're going to have
commanders desperate to find resources for their troops," Ford said. "This
American caution aggravates problems. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

The U.S. government started ramping up aid to the rebels last year and also
successfully reined in the funding activities of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, several
rebel commanders said. But the new U.S. assistance was insufficient to
substitute for the quantities that had been provided by the countries of the
Persian Gulf, they said, leaving all the rebel groups worse off, and the
moderate ones at the biggest disadvantage. Maarouf said he had received
almost no assistance for months.

That may be changing. Syrian opposition officials say he recently received a
new injection of funds from Saudi Arabia, and though Maarouf refused to
confirm the reports, he said he is hoping for assistance. "Anyone who helps
us, we will be thankful," he said.

His reputation may also be starting to recover, at least among some of those
who now find themselves living under the extremists' rule.

Maarouf's group was renowned for its control of the lucrative oil trade across
the Turkish border; its members exacted taxes from trucks ferrying fuel at
checkpoints widely dubbed "diesel checkpoints." His own nickname, Jamal
Makhlouf, refers to the Syrian businessman and Assad family member whose
legendary corruption helped fuel the Syrian uprising in 2011.

The Jabhat al-Nusra fighters who have taken over the area he once controlled
are now imposing similar taxes on the oil smugglers, according to a local
media activist who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is afraid.
They have, moreover, set about detaining all those they suspect once
associated with Maarouf, including the men who deserted him, leaving many
local residents regretting they ever supported the newcomers, he said.

"I was one of those who welcomed Jabhat al-Nusra into Zawiya, but now I
regret it," the media activist said. "Before, 90 percent of the people wanted
Jabhat al-Nusra and hated Jamal Maarouf. But now everyone hates Nusra and
wants Jamal Maarouf to come back."

[Source: By Liz Sly, Reyhanli, Tur, 05Jan15]

This document has been published on 06Jan15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with
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